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(No Model.)

B. P. MULLER.

FIRE EXTINGUISHER FOR CARS.

N0. Patented Dec. 20, 1887.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ERNEST I. MULLER, OF BROOKLYN, ASSIGNOR OF TWO-THIRDS TO ISAAC N. HEIDELBERG AND ANTON C. HEIDELBERG, OF NEIV YORK, N. Y.

FIRE-EXTINGUISHER FOR CARS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent'No. 375,181, dated December 20, 1887.

Application filed April 13, ran.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ERNEsT P. MULLER, a citizen of the United States, residing in Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented a new and useful ID1- provement in Fire-Extinguishers for Railroad- Cars; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the sanie, reference being had to the accompany- IO ing drawing, and the letters and figures of reference marked thereon, which form part of this specification.

The object of myinvention is to provide means whereby the fire in the stove or other heater of a railroad'car can be extinguished in case of accident by any passenger in the car, or will be extinguished automatically by the shock or motion resulting from the accident itself. Y

My invention consists in the devices hereinafter described and claimed.

The accompanying drawing shows my invention as applied to any ordinary passengercar in which a common stove is used to heat the same.

My invention can be used in connection with any form of heating apparatus in which a fire is maintained within the car itself, whatever may be the form of stove or heating device 0 employed. In such cases where any accident occurs there is great danger of the stove overturning and of the burning fuel or the heated stove coming into contact with the wood-work of the car and setting it on fire. By my in- 5 vention this danger of fire is avoided.

The drawing is a partial sectional view of the interior of a car containing my invention.

A is the wall and floor of the car.

(6 a are rods or cords working in rings or sleeves attached to the side of the car and having a suitable hook or handle at their lower ends within convenient reach of the passengets. These rods or cords to are connected with the cord 1), which runs entirely around 5 the car on both sides, having rods a running down to each seat in the car. The cord b is run through rings, or is supported in any suitable manner.

In the corner of the car, or in any convenient place above the level of the combustion- Serial No. 234,665. (No model.)

chamber in the stove, is placed the reservoir or tank 0, which is made of a size large enough to hold sufficient water to extinguish the fire in the stove. This reservoir is made preferably of iron, as it is desirable to have it strong. From this reservoir extends the pipe a", which is preferably an iron pipe. In this pipe I place an ordinary valve or cock, 6, having the handle or arm f, by which the valve is operated. At the other end of the pipe cl, I attach a flexible feed-pipe, 9, made of rubber or of any suitable material. This pipe 9 is made of considerable length, so that in case the stove were displaced in the accident andwere thrown some distance from the reservoir the pipe 9 would still be long enough to extend between the two. In its ordinary position the pipe 9 is much longer than is necessary to reach between the reservoir and the stove, and in order to conveniently dispose of this extra' length of pipe I coil the middle portion of the pipe 9 in a slatted box, h, or a box of just sufficient strength to hold the pipe, but of such slight construction that it would readily break or yield in case a strain was brought to bear on the outer end of the pipe g. The'outer end of the pipe g is attached to a pipe, 6, which passes through the chamber of the stove above the fire. The pipe 9 is-attached to the pipe i so that the pipe 12 can turn or revolve in the joint without turning the pipe g. The pipe 2' is mounted in bearings in the sides of the stove and turns freely in those bearings. In its middle portion the pipe 13 is divided into two circular branches, forming a ring-tube or sprinkler, k, which is directly above the firechamber. This ring'tube or sprinkler k is perforated above and below, as shown.

The pipe z, with its ring-tube It, being movable in its bearings, will be less likely to be broken if the stove is overturned and its contents are thrown out of place, and will distribute the water more thoroughly. WVhen the stove is upset or thrown out of place, so that the contents of the stove strike against the ring-tube, that tube will yield on whichure happens to come, and thus the tube will be less likely to be broken than if a rigid tube were employed. This pipe '5 and the sprinkever side ofits ring or circle the greatest press- IOC ling-tube it have thus a grate-like action or motion. 7

One end of the cord 1) is fastened to the end of the valve-arm f, as shown. A cord, m, is 5 attached at one end to the valve-arm f, and after passing through a ring or similar device, a, is attached at its other end to the upper end of the stove. The cord at passes from the valve in the direction in which the valve-arn1 IO must be turned in order to open the valve. This cord in is of such a length that if the stove were rocked out of its position or overturned the cord would draw the valve-arm and open the valve.

My invention operates as follows: Incase of accident a passenger, by pulling the rod a, and through it the cord 1), opens the valve 0. The water from the reservoir 0 will rush through the pipes d, g, andt' into the ring-tube 7c, and

30 k is n ovablein its bearings, it will yield when the contents of the stove come in contact with it, and thus will be less liable to get broken. Moreover, it will more thoroughly distribute the water upon such burning contents.

To the reservoir 0, I attach any form of gage to show the height of the water in the reser- VOlI'.

hat I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A fire-extinguishing apparatus consisting of a reservoir, a pipe leading from said reservoir, a valve in said pipe, a second flexible pipe connecting the first pipe with the firechamber of the heater, and a cord attached to the valve andpassing fromitin the direction in which the valve-arm must beturned in order to open the valve through a fixed ring, and attached at the other end to the upper end of the stove, for automatically opening said valve when the heater is thrown out of place, substantially as shown and described.

2. A fire-extinguishing apparatus consisting of a reservoir, a pipe connecting said reservoir with the stove, a perforated sprinkler within the stove mounted in hearings in which L it revolves, and a valve in the pipe, and a cord for operating said valve, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

ERNEST P. MULLER. W'itnesses:

ROBERT N. KENYON, EDWIN SEGER. 

